Glee: Sara's Story
by Number Ten
Summary: Who is Sara Walsh? For a long time, she was merely in the back of the choir room with a sweet voice and shy demeanor. This is her story as dark secrets begin to surface about what her life is really like while she tries to decide between Rory Flanagan and Ryder Lynn. Find out what happens behind closed doors... Warning contains some intense and emotional scenes.
1. Introduction

Author's Note:

To all you Glee fans out there, this is a fanfic that I made up a long time ago, mostly in my head. I've been developing it for years, ever since the show hit its third season. It's about a quiet member of the New Directions, Sara Walsh. She's hardly ever noticed because of the drama unfolding around her. She was mostly a silent observer, but once in a while had her moment to shine with her voice. She was going to be in the background and slowly develop as the show went on. She was friends with everyone despite her quiet nature.

She would begin having a relationship with Rory Flanagan in Season Three and they would be close, but despite all this, Rory knows little about her personal life. Their relationship would be a secret. They eventually had to break up as Rory had to back to Ireland.

In Season 4, she started becoming close to Ryder Lynn after he's struck out with Marley and again they'd become close, but the male in the relationship would still know little about her.

Things get even more complicated when Rory transfers back to see Sara and catches her with Ryder. The two take instant dislike to each other, much like how Jake and Ryder fought over Marley, but Sara breaks down unable to choose. The boys do their best to try and win her affections, but Sara has more pressing issues at hand that she doesn't have time to pick between them. Find out what.

Meanwhile, New Directions are getting ready for Regionals and there is jealousy with Marley about Sara and Ryder. Also, slinking in the shadows is Kitty, who's taken a liking to the Irish exchange student.

What will happen...?

(Just a note, Finn is still alive as well)


	2. Chapter 1: Gone Bloody

Sara walks into the library with her book bag and headphones in. She knows that Finn wants them all to practice today, but she and Rory had a chemistry test to worry about, Glee club would have to wait.

As she approaches the table where her partial boyfriend sits, her heart beats quickly. She loved both him and Ryder and she desperately wished she could make up her mind, but everything was so complicated and both boys were so sweet. They had both managed to bring the girl out of her carefully constructed shell and she was grateful. She just wished that they'd both stop pursuing her, that way her guilt might go away.

Sara takes out her headphones and surprises Rory with a hug from behind.

"Is that my lovely lass?" Rory asks.

"It is indeed," Sara says with a giggle. "Ready to study?" she asks.

"I am," a voice comes from across the table.

Sara's eyes go wide in shock as she sees Kitty Pride sitting there, grinning like a cat about to eat a canary. Her blonde hair was pulled up in her usual Cheerio ponytail and her necklace was being twirled between her fingers. She raises her eyebrow at Sara as the shy girl sits down close to Rory.

"Hi Sara," Kitty says with a little wave.

"Oh…uh hi Kitty," Sara says. Sara's stomach drops. She knew what Kitty was up to. She'd noticed it frequently in the choir room recently, the cheerleader was trying to get close to Rory. She'd giggle loudly at his jokes, touch him for longer periods of time and overall try to hit on him. She knew this was due to her own inability to decide between Ryder and Rory; so Kitty was pouncing, making her move. What reassured her though was that Rory could be less than interested. He knew his desires were for Sara and Sara only. He merely took Kitty's flirting as a way of being friendly. Sara didn't mind Kitty and she definitely didn't want to make enemies with her.

"I hope you don't mind that she studies with us?" Rory asks. "She needs help with chemistry and since this isn't a date and all…"

"Sure, sure, sure, that's fine," Sara says quickly. She digs out her textbook and her notes. "Okay, can either of you name the organic compounds?"

Rory begins looking into his notes, trying to remember, but Kitty insists on texting.

"Uh Kitty," Sara says, trying to get the blonde's attention.

"Sorry what?" Kitty says.

"Can you name any organic compounds?" Sara insists.

"Oh darn…" Kitty says in exaggerated frustration. "I forgot my books, I guess I'll have to share with you, Rory."

Kitty moves her chair right over next to Rory, taking him completely by surprise. She puts her hand on his notebook so he'll pay attention to her instead.

Sara can feel slightly enraged by this, the fact that someone else was moving in on Rory. Her heart pounded anxiously, she stares down at her textbook, trying to focus. She had enough problems as it is, she didn't need a popular Cheerio humiliating her or being on the girl's "hate list."

Little by little, the three work through the chemistry questions; Sara reading them out loud and mostly Rory answering. Kitty, meanwhile, was brushing her feet up against Rory, flipping her hair and giggling every so often, but fortunately, Rory was stonewalling her.

Sara suddenly goes quiet. She doesn't notice that Kitty is still trying to be close to Rory, twirling her gum out of her mouth as if this is a turn on for him. Rory is doing his best to ignore the young blonde cheerleader that's practically in his lap. Despite his shaky current status with Sara, he's going to try and remain faithful to her. After all, it had only been less than a month that he had lost his virginity to her.

"What's wrong Sara?" Rory asks, looking up from his chemistry textbook.

Sara's face is unreadable. She seems angry and at the same time scared. Rory attempts to meet her gaze and then turns to see what she's staring at.

A gruff individual, looking to be in his late-twenties or early thirties stands outside the library, staring with a look that only Rory could describe as hungry. He had dark circles under his bright blue eyes, a bit of stubble growing on his face, dark hair that came down practically over the eyes and a large jagged scar under his one of them. His clothes were dirty and very wrinkled, covered in similarly coloured stains. He had tattoos going up along his forearms and grimy hands. He peered in at the trio like a tiger might look at his next meal. This man glared Rory and Sara down, Kitty completely oblivious. Rory felt a lump in his throat, he looks back at Sara.

"I'll… be right back," Sara says.

Rory's heart begins beating quickly as Sara stands up and walks towards the library exit. She's going right towards this man as if a rabbit approaching a wolf's den. Rory is immediately worried for Sara's safety, this man looks dangerous, all he needed was a gun or a machete and he'd be something out of a horror movie. He watches as Sara slips out of the library and goes towards the man, a little reluctance in her stance.

Rory wants to go and try to listen in to what they were saying, but the man continues to stare at the Irish boy as if he's waiting for him to look away.

It takes all of his strength for him to tear his eyes away from Sara and go back to his school work. The two begin talking in muffled voices. Rory would kill to know what they were saying.

He has an idea. He slowly gets up and makes a beeline for a nearby bookshelf. He keeps his eyes away from the scene and makes it seem like he's looking for a book. He walks out of sight of the two. He goes to the end of the library, near the big glass windows. Rory slips behind a bookshelf that conceals him from the window, just enough so he can try and listen to the conversation.

"You know you're not supposed to be here," Sara was saying. "We had an agreement, you stay away from my school life."

"I don't care about your little Geek club or your popularity. I'm broke, you need to give me cash," the man says.

"I already gave you some, the rest is needed for the girls' lunches and rent. You know that!"

"I don't care; I need the money."

"You should've made it last. I don't get paid until next week, and I need that money to pay the bills" Sara says sternly. Rory can hear a bit of cracking in her voice.

"You little bitch!" the man hisses. Rory peeks out of the window and sees a terrible sight; the man has collared Sara, shoving her against the lockers. Something in Rory immediately snaps and he marches across the library, clearly in view of the two. He shoves the door open with such force that it makes a loud noise that echoes in the empty halls.

"OY!" he screams loudly. "Pick on someone your own size!"

Sara looks over at Rory; she has tears in her eyes already, and she's doing her best to keep the man away from her.

"Rory…" she stammers. "It's fine, I can handle it."

"It's not fine! This man is trying to hurt you…"

The man's eyes go from Sara's frightened face to Rory's angry one. Rory makes it to the two of them and with all his might, shoves the man against the chest, so hard that the man lets go of Sara and falls to the ground.

Rory pounds his fist like he's ready to fight and goes to make sure that Sara is okay. Sara is now crying.

"Run Rory," she begs. The man snarls and gets up from the ground. His fists crack in anger and he charges at Rory. In that split second, Rory feels the hardest punch ever against his face. His face is on fire and the force of the punch is so strong that he falls to the ground, and back against the lockers. Blood starts pouring from his nose and Rory can't see straight, but he has to get up and fight for Sara.

Sara's yelling something and trying to hold the man back, but he manages another kick against Rory's stomach, winding him.

"Joe please!" Sara says. "Take it out on me not him!"

The voices meld into each other as Rory tries to focus, all he can see are the legs of the other two people. He is so dizzy and in so much pain he begins to feel like he's hallucinating. He seemingly blacks out for a moment.

When he comes to, Finn is leaning down trying to talk to him.

"Rory, buddy are you okay?"

Rory manages to look up to see Finn and a few other New Directions members staring down at him with concern. Clearly, they were rehearsing in the choir room when they heard the noise. Even Kitty's there, with serious concern on her face.

"Let me help you up man," Jake says. Two strong arms help lift the Rory from the floor and steady him.

"Oh my gawd he's bleeding," someone says.

Finally, Rory manages a few simple words.

"Where's Sara?"

…

Ryder has stayed behind in the choir room to make sure that everything is okay. He is worried about Rory, of course, but the boy is his romantic rival for Sara's affections. He knows that as long as Finn is there, everything will be okay.

There's screaming coming from the hallway that gets Ryder's attention. It's very loud and very aggressive. He begins to follow the sounds. As he gets closer, he hears Sara's voice. She's scared and her voice is cracking in pain and agony. Ryder speeds up immediately.

"Sara?" he shouts. "Sara where are you?!"

The screaming suddenly stops and the door to the school slams shut loudly. Ryder runs as fast as he possibly can towards the sound, going after the so-called aggressor that was hurting Sara. He stops short when a flash of red goes by.

"OH MY GOD!" Ryder screams.

The mess he sees at the bottom of the stairs makes his stomach turn and his heart drop.

There's a trail of blood leading down the stairs and at the bottom is a puddle of blood that is slowly growing larger. The source of the red stuff is a battered and barely conscious Sara. She's clutching her stomach and cringing in pain. She has a black eye coming and a series of cuts and bruises all over her body. She looks like she had just been in a fight…and lost. She's crying too and her breath is quick as if she's struggling to breathe.

Ryder maneuvers carefully around the blood, trying to reach the battered girl. Tears are in his eyes too. When he finally reaches Sara, he kneels in the blood.

"Sara!" he says. "SARA! Please stay with me!"

He tries to lift her head but she continues to moan and cry in pain.

"Sara please…" he begs.

Sara opens the un-blackened eye, her own tears stinging her face. She's happy to see Ryder, she manages a smile through all her gasping.

"Ryder…" she says softly.

"Sara please stay with me," Ryder begs. "Finn! FINN!" Ryder calls as loudly as he can. "Call an ambulance! Oh, my gawd the blood!"

"Ryder listen…" Sara says softly. "If I don't make it…"

"Don't talk like that!" Ryder says loudly. "You're going to be fine!" he wanted to believe this so badly, but the puddle of blood and the large stain on Sara's shirt continues to get bigger. He knew he couldn't lose her, not after that time they shared less than a month ago.

"Please Sara," Ryder says breathlessly. "Stay with me."

"If I don't make it…make sure my cousins are safe…"

These are her last words before she blacks out.


	3. Chapter 2: Tears of Guilt

Ryder sits in the waiting room, blood still staining his shirt and pants. He's shaking, can hardly sit still. Next, to him sits Rory, who has an ice pack and waded tissues pressed against his face. He too has blood on his shirt, but his own. Both of them are battling tears and continually staring at the door of the ER, where the girl they both loved and cared about had been wheeled in.

The door across the waiting room burst open and half of the New Directions members come in, all of them with big concern on their face.

"How is she?" Blaine asks, running a hand through his carefully gelled hair.

Neither of the boys responds.

"Does anyone know who the guy was?" Tina says, taking a seat across from the boys. The rest of the members also take their seats, many of them putting their hands on Rory and Ryder's shoulders. Most of the club knew about Sara's feelings for both boys and how hard it was on both of them.

Kitty's phone continually rings with updates.

"My phone has been going nuts, everyone wants to know what happened as if I'm a key witness."

"No, you were too busy trying to get into Rory's pants to notice when a fellow Glee member was in trouble," Tina snaps.

"That is so untrue Gothica!" Kitty says, standing up, ready to slap Tina.

"Guys!" Blaine says, knowing a fight is the last thing any of them needed right now.

Just then, Finn and Artie come in through the front doors, Finn on the phone with someone.

"I don't know Rachel," Finn was saying. "All I remember hearing was Ryder screaming for me to call an ambulance."

Meanwhile, in New York, Rachel, Kurt, and Santana are quickly packing their things in order for the emergency trip home. They heard the news when Finn called them in a frenzy. The story was also all over the Internet. All three of them knew Sara, not well, but enough to be shaken by the news, to the point of crying. Sara was their friend. They knew they had to go back to Lima, to be there for her.

"Well, Santana, Kurt and I are taking the next flight from New York," Rachel says, packing a few sweaters into her carry-on case.

"You guys don't have to do that…" Finn begins.

"Finn…" Rachel says in a tone that Finn knew all too well. Once she had made up her mind, there was no changing it. It was one of the things that he loved about her.

"Has there been any news? And how's Irish?" Santana asks as Rachel puts the call on speakerphone.

"He's fine compared to Sara... Oh, God… I can't unsee it, Rachel. It was awful… she was black and blue… She was bleeding from her stomach, it was if she was going to die right there and Ryder's covered in her blood."

Kurt's stomach turns in response as he packs a few hair products. "Rachel did you get the tickets?" trying to change the subject.

"I ordered them online,"

"Is Brit there?" Santana asks.

"I heard she's driving in from MIT, I think Tina said she tweeted it," Finn says.

"What about Blaine?" Kurt asks.

"Yeah he's here," Finn says, knowing that the relationship between him and Kurt was still a bit questionable, much like his situation with Rachel. "We're all here."

Kurt pauses for a moment.

"Do you want to talk to him?" Finn asks, trying to help his step-brother out.

"Uh…maybe later," Kurt says quickly. "Let's go, we're going to be late."

Finn sighs. No matter how hard anybody tried, Kurt and Blaine still were on the rocks about whether they want to be together.

"Alright, call me when you guys land," Finn says before hanging up.

Kurt sighs once Rachel puts the phone in her purse. Rachel too was not looking forward to seeing her ex. They finish packing their bags and make sure they have their keys and passports before locking their apartment. None of them speak as they hail a cab to JFK airport, large knots in their stomach. Knots of grief and fear for their friend's life.

Finn sighs as he takes a seat next to Wade/Unique, who is picking at her nails nervously, he scans over all the member of the group. Several of them are merely staring at their shoes, their heads drooped in sadness. Jake has Marley in a tight hug, holding her in his lap as they wait. Artie reaches over and grabs Tina's hand, a gesture she appreciates as she is already crying very hard. Ryder and Rory sit like stone statues, tears running down their faces and both shaking anxiously.

Finn can't help but feel guilty, what if he had followed the assailant, could he have caught him…? He had heard Ryder's screams and barely caught of glimpse of the man who had beaten Sara and Rory up. It took all his strength not to run after the man. What would he do to the man once he caught them? He wanted so badly to break this guy's face for what he did to his friends. He nearly dropped his phone, trying to dial an ambulance. He had blood stains on his own pants, he yelled for one the glee members to get a first aid kit. He used his own sweater to press against Sara's stomach wound. He had hardly cried then…he had taken charge and done, what he had to do and yet… Finn felt like he could've done more.

His phone suddenly vibrates again.

 _Mr. Schue_

The beloved teacher of Glee that Finn was filling in for as Choir Master while Will was out fighting for the arts programs. His wife, Emma Pillsbury, accompanied the kids to the front of the hospital and then left to go home because of her OCD. Despite how good Emma was doing with her mental illness, a hospital might cause a panic attack. She also agreed to do therapy over the phone for any traumatized students.

"Hi Mr. Schue," Finn says.

"How are they?" Will says, not even bothering to say hello.

"Rory is fine, just a bloody nose and a bad shiner, but we haven't heard anything about Sara. The paramedics got there several minutes later, Rory and Ryder rode with her in the ambulance. She was bleeding profusely from her stomach, but she was breathing when the wheeled her in."

"Do they have any idea who did this?" Will asks.

"Only Rory could give a description and even then it wasn't great. The best they can say is that it was someone she knew and his name was Joe."

"Not our Joe," Will whispers.

Finn looks over at the dreadlocked glee member, his guitar on his back and his hands folded in prayer. The gentle home-schooled boy would never lay a hand on anyone, this Joe was much more aggressive and very violent. Had he hit any harder, he might've broken Rory's nose or quite possibly…killed Sara

"Never, there's a warrant out for they guy's arrest, but even then, he left so quickly that no one could identify him or the vehicle he was driving. I think two Cheerios leaving practice saw him drive away, said the truck was black and rusty."

Will runs his hands through his curly hair and sits on his bed in his hotel room. He wipes a few tears from his eyes. He wishes beyond measure that he was there with his kids. Never had anything this scary happened before, except maybe with the possible shooting and now one of his kids was in a life-threatening situation. He was developing guilt that he never paid enough attention to some of the other New Directions members, ones that didn't stand out as much in terms of talent. Maybe if he had taken the time to get to know Sara better, he could've helped her in some way.

Will knows he can't cry on the phone with Finn.

"I should be there…" he sighs. "but I can't get a flight out of Dallas for another two days."

"It's okay Mr. Schue, we're all together and even the graduated are coming back."

Will manages a small smile.

"Call me when you hear something," he says.

"I will," Finn says gently.

When Will hangs up, he leans back on his bed, puts his hands over his face and begins to cry freely.

At the hospital, the entire Glee club sits in silence, scared silence. Ryder and Rory are still crying, Tina too. The others join in and soon the entire club has tears in their eyes.


	4. Chapter 3: Family Recollection

Chapter 3: Family Recollection

The minutes felt like hours in the waiting room as doctors and nurses rushed about, past the shell-shocked Glee club, all ins silent contemplation. The only time the trance was broken was when a nurse came to check on Rory, give him a new ice pack and fresh tissues

Finn is so caught up in his own thoughts that he doesn't notice the first time a young girl tugs at his shirt sleeve. He turns to meet wide blue eyes of a girl. She has dark hair pulled back into two small braids and wore a pink shirt underneath a dark sweater, with leggings and a matching skirt. She looked about to be nine or ten years old at the most. Behind her stood two other girls, who were about the same height and looked the same age to each other. One was slightly taller than the other with strawberry blonde hair, that grew almost fully down her back, and similar blue eyes. She had many freckles sprouting across her tiny nose and wore a light pink plaid shirt with buttons and small jeans with holes in them. The last child had the same dark hair as the older one, she too had blue eyes and a very shy expression with curly locks reaching past her shoulders. She wore a dark blue shirt and black pants. All three of them seemed very nervous and slightly on edge. They also had a sort of dishevelled look to them with dark circles under their eyes and timid facial features like they were afraid of this very big man or the hospital in general.

"Excuse me?" she says in a quiet voice.

"How can I help you?" Finn asks.

"Are you Finn?"

"Yes I am and who are you?"

"I'm Madison," she introduces her self. "And that's Katlyn," she points to the light-haired girl "And this is Julia, but we call her Jay for short. We're looking for Sara."

Rory and Ryder seem to snap out of their trances at the sound of these little girls. Immediately, they stand up and goes towards the trio of children talking to Finn.

"Rory!" Katlyn practically squeals, running up, to which Rory picks her up with ease. He fits the girl on her hip like he'd done so many times before. The rest of the Glee club look up in confusion. None of them had met these children before, but they seemed to have some relations with Sara and knew Rory. Several members smile at the youthful faces, others just look confused.

"Ahoy Katy," Rory says as cheerfully as he can.

"I missed you," the girl says.

"I missed you too."

"Where did you go?"

"I had to go home back to Ireland because I missed my family too. But I missed our little dance recitals and the secret food fights."

Katlyn giggles and hugs the Irish student with much love and enthusiasm.

Madison and Julia follow suit, hugging Rory before the youngest, Jay runs into Ryder's arms, to which he also scoops her up with ease. The girl immediately rests her head on his shoulder and puts her thumb in her mouth.

"Still have that habit, don't you?" Ryder says gently.

"Uh… Ryder? Rory? The rest of us need an explanation," Kitty says.

"This is Madison, Julia and Katlyn, they're Sara's cousins," Rory says.

"We live with her because our mommy and daddy went to heaven," Madison blurts out suddenly.

The adoring smiles fade into concern that a nine-year-old child would know this.

"Their parents were killed in a car crash several years ago so Sara's been raising them with her brother," Ryder explains. "But for all the times we've been to the park with them, we've gotten to know them really well."

"Where is Sara?" Julia asks, taking the thumb out of her mouth.

The waiting room goes quiet, wondering what to say to young children, tell them that their so-called "guardian" is intensive care.

"She… she got hurt," Marley says quickly. "But the doctors are taking care of her.

To everyone's surprise, the trio doesn't react the way one might expect, with shock and tears and more questions. Instead, their faces go quiet and they sort of shrink into themselves.

"How did you three know that Sara was in the hospital?' Finn asks, kneeling to Madison's level.

"When she didn't pick us up from school. We spend about an hour at daycare after school and Sara comes to get us after Glee club."

Finn nearly smiles, surprised and pleased that these young kids knew about the New Directions.

"Our teacher told us that Sara got hurt and she brought us here."

"And she just left you here?" Tina asks in confusion.

"She thought Joe would be here."

The colour drains from everyone's faces at the mention of the name.

"J-Joe?" Finn swallows. He does his best not jump to conclusions right in front of everyone, Joe was a common name. It could just be a coincidence and for all they knew, Joe was Sara's concerned father, perhaps held up at work and couldn't reach any of them for information.

"Who's Joe?" Jake asks quietly.

"Joe is Sara's brother…"


	5. Chapter 4: It's All in The Name

Chapter 4: It's All in The Name

Finn's face goes bright red and his hands clench into fists. It takes all his strength not to put his fist through the nearest wall and frighten the younger patrons in the room. This does not, however, stop his language.

"That son of a bitch…" he hisses. He cannot imagine what brother would beat his own sister and then leave her to bleed to death on the floor. Tossing her aside like she was a piece of garbage.

"Language!" Tina snaps, reaching over to cover Madison's ears.

Finn's so angry that he turns and exits the room to cool off, the rest of the glee club members are left to ponder what the little Madison had told them.

Blaine clears his throat and adjusts his collar in discomfort.

"Is Sara okay?" Katlyn asks, seemingly ignoring Finn's foul language. Only a select few members noticed how the swearing didn't even phase the young children, not one bit, which some would assume as unusual.

"We don't know yet, darlin'," Rory says.

"How bad was it?" Madison says.

No one wants to answer, they all look at each other with discomfort. Ryder holds Julia a bit tighter, covering her head with his ear, while Rory brings Katlyn over to a chair so she can sit on his lap. Artie rolls up to the eldest girl of the group and stops in front of her.

"We're not sure yet Madison, but we're hoping to know soon."

The dark-haired girl gives a slight nod, accepting it without much question.

"Are you Artie?" Maddy asks suddenly.

"Yeah…"

"Sara told me you were the smartest one of Glee Club, but your glasses aren't that big."

Artie turns bright red and shrinks down in his chair slightly, some of the other members snicker at the abrupt comment. The naivety of a child is always amusing, no matter how depressing the situation might be.

"What else did she tell you about me?" he prompts.

"That you're very good at filming things and you've always been in love with Tina."

This time, Tina turns bright red in response too and the former couple looks at each other for a long moment before looking away.

"What about her?" the wheel-chair bound member asks.

"She says that Tina used to be very shy, but is now headstrong and edgy, whatever that means. Sara likes that she doesn't wear dark clothes anymore and thinks that even though she dated Mike for so long, she's always loved you."

Tina takes a step away from Artie and sits in one of the nearby chairs as more of the glee club members laugh quietly amongst each other. Artie offers to take Madison for a spin on his wheelchair, finding the girl's honesty refreshing if not slightly embarrassing.

Katlyn speaks up next, she points to Sam.

"You're Sam," she giggles. "You have a washboard stomach and big lips. Sara hated that Satan called you Trouty Mouth."

Almost everyone laughs at the nickname while Sam turns red, but also laughs at what the bright-eyed girl had just said.

"Satan? Do you mean Santana?" Joe asks. Katlyn nods.

"Same difference," the blonde teen mutters.

"She certainly acted like it at times," Tina agrees.

Katlyn continues, "You also like to swim and she thinks you're too hard on yourself sometimes. She thinks you're very smart and funny, especially when you pretend to be other people."

"You mean like this?" Sam asks and he goes into an impersonation Kermit the Frog and then a robot to make them laugh. Even Julia laughs, taking the thumb out of her mouth and poking her head up from the safety of Ryder's arms. The other members smile, happy to have some of the tension relieved from the room.

"You're funny," Madison says.

"What about that guy in the bow tie?" Artie asks, rolling the girl over to Blaine.

"He's Blaine," Maddy says. "He has the most amazing voice and Sara says that he's a great dancer. She thinks he should still try to fix things with Kurt because they are still in love. She also loves his outfits, he has the best sense of style."

"Except for Unique," Katlyn adds.

The smile on Blaine's face fades a little bit at the mention of his ex-boyfriend, but his eyes light up with what Sara says about him. He masks the pain before ruffling Madison's hair in appreciation.

"That's nice of her to say that," he says.

"What am I? Chopped Liver?" Unique asks.

"You're Unique," Katlyn chimes in. "You have the best clothes and you're so fearless as a person. Sara loves when you go shopping together and when you dress her up. She thinks you have a big heart and are brave. Like the movie"

"Brave how?" the fashionable one of the group asks.

"That you're not afraid to be yourself, unlike she could be," Maddy adds. "You don't let anyone control who you are.

"Well, thank you, girls. Come here for a moment Katlyn."

The little girl gets from Rory's lap and runs over to Unique, who embraces her warmly.

"Your hair is the most beautiful I've ever seen; do you mind if I braid it darling?"

"No, Sara does my hair all the time."

"What about me?" Madison asks.

"You're next honey, after this lovely girl."

"What about me?" Sugar asks.

"You're Sugar," Maddy says. "She says that you're the best dancer in the group and tough to the bone. Sara didn't like you at first because Rory went to the Valentine's dance with you, but she still thinks you're lots of fun to be around. She says you throw great parties."

"Well I didn't like her at first either, but… she's better than before. She kind of brings down the group a bit." Sugar says, not fully sure how to respond due to her Asperger's.

Artie wheels the girl over to Kitty.

"And who's this?" he asks.

"You're Kitty," the nine-year-old says. "She calls you Queen B and even though you've done some bad things, she thinks you're a good person deep down. She thinks you're someone we can learn from and that we need to look at things from another people's perspective. She really wants to be friends with you. She also says Cheerio a lot, do you like the cereal?"

The Cheerio swallows hard at this description. She'd assumed that Sara hated her like the rest of group pretty much did because of her attitude and ego. Kitty also thought that because of her attempts to steal her foreign boyfriend, Sara would be calling her a bitch and telling her cousins to stay away from her. Instead, she's being used as a learning tool and that Sara didn't have a hateful bone in her body. Her shy classmate genuinely thought that this queen b cheerleader was nice underneath and wanted to be her friend. A big surge of guilt filled her body as now she felt awful for trying to steal Rory from Sara, more than before.

"N-No Maddy, I don't like the cereal, that's what people at school call their cheerleaders."

"Why are you named after a cereal?"

It takes Kitty a few minutes to explain to the girls what Cheerio meant.

"You're Joe," Katlyn says to the passive guitar player. "She thinks you're nice and so peaceful. She likes your guitar playing and thinks your prayers are important, even though we don't pray anymore."

"Any more?" Blaine asks in confusion.

"We used to pray to Jesus, but we gave up after no one answered our prayers."

"What were your prayers about?" Joe asks.

Katlyn shakes her head, not wanting to talk anymore.

"Hold still girl, I need this braid to be straight," Unique cries out.

"Sorry,"

"What about these two?" Artie asks, turning the oldest girl towards Jake and Marley. To everyone's great surprise, Julia speaks up.

"He's Jake, she thinks he's tough, but good on the inside. He just cares too much about people sometimes. And the hat girl is Marley and even though they both like Ryder, she still wants to be friends with you. She says you are both alike. She also likes your singing."

The whole room goes quiet at the shy girl speaking up so suddenly. Marley turns bright red… Normally she wasn't a hateful person, but she did not particularly like Sara. Especially after she became involved with Ryder. Whenever she saw them together, Marley got the sharp pang of jealousy, the same resentment she felt when Kitty was with Jake. Even though they weren't together, Ryder was her friend and Marley hated that he was following Sara around like a puppy, trying to win her affections against Rory Flanagan. She didn't want him strung along like that. She felt a bit of guilt when Julia states that Sara wanted to be friends and that they were a lot alike. They kind of were, not in ways that Marley could understand.

"That's…nice," she manages to say.

Finn walks in, a bit calmer than before, enough to survey the scene around him.

"What's going on guys?"

"The girls are just introducing us to ourselves," Tina says whimsically.

"What?" the choir director asks, a bit cross-eyed. "Don't you mean the girls are introducing themselves to us."

"We're learning a lot about ourselves," Blaine explains. "Apparently these girls know us better than we know ourselves."

"I see," Finn says, shaking his head, not wanting to think about it any further. "Anything about me?"

"You're Finn and you're the leader!" Maddy says from Artie's lap. "She thinks you're the Daddy of Glee club and you're one of her best friends. You care about everyone and are really protective. You make Sara feel safe and happy. She thinks you'll be a great teacher. She hopes that you and Rachel will get back together someday."

The alumni's ears go bright red in embarrassment. He wasn't used to the abrupt and honest statements said by the nine-year-old girl, but it was funny and the truth. It soothes his angry mood a little bit more.

It was all true too. He still was in love with Rachel and he hoped that they would get back together someday. He was happy that Sara felt safe with him around and he was the father of the show choir. He felt some guilt that even though Sara considered him one of her best friends, he didn't know anything about her and he'd failed to protect her when she needed him most. He forces a smile on his face and offers the girl a piggyback ride, which she accepts with glee. She hugs his shoulders tightly and Finn feels a rush of comfort and joy. He felt like a father and knew that he would do anything for this little girl. He'd protect her at all costs, for Sara.

"Tell me more, Maddy."


	6. Chapter 5: New Friend and New Discovery

Chapter 5: New Friend and New Discovery

The hours continue to pass as everyone becomes more and more anxious for any type of news about Sara. It becomes harder and harder to keep the middle girl entertained for long periods of time. Maddy seems perfectly content with drawing in her own sketchbook on one of the waiting room tables just at Finn's feet. He occasionally looks over her shoulder to see what she's drawing and is impressed by her talent. He sees several teddy bears being drawn on a shelf, each with their own little outfit and then a zoo filled with different animals. Tina offers the girl her coloured markers and pencils from her backpack to add some colour to the drawings and also watches the eldest cousin with great interest.

Julia remains in Ryder's arms for the majority of the time, not feeling safe to leave them for even a few moments. Her cousin's "boyfriend" doesn't seem to mind, he loves having someone to hold and protect, his mind still thinking about Sara. He had a massive amount of guilt in his stomach, thinking that he could've done something to protect Sara, to save her. He could've done more when they were together. He should've noticed something, anything that would preview what happened to her. He keeps staring down at his blood-stained jeans in silent agony. Julia or "Jay" as her sisters called her, held on to Ryder's shirt collar and he even fished her favourite stuffed animal from her backpack, something she'd brought in for show and tell. It didn't take long that after a couple hours, the youngest of the trio fell asleep cradled in his arms.

Katlyn or 'Katy' as her sisters also called her is the hardest to keep entertained, eventually, Rory runs out of games he can play with her, she'd gone through all the books and toys provided in the waiting room and Artie gives her several rides on his wheel chair before she says she wants to do more. Sam entertains her with more impressions, but as time melts on, the phrase, "I'm bored" is repeated frequently.

She begins to run around, trying to find something to do. It's Blaine's turn to watch her, and he has to catch her before she causes more trouble. She giggles, thinking of it as a fun hide-and-seek game, but Blaine is hardly amused. He catches her underneath an unused gurney, ducking down after her, but she runs towards the door… right smack into a blonde woman.

Katlyn looks up into the woman's hazel-green eyes and the stranger gives her a gently smile. The young girl shies away at first until she sees the woman's nice smile.

"Hello there," the young woman says, her voice very soft and gentle. "What's your name?"

"I'm Katlyn…"

"Hi Katlyn, I'm…"

"Quinn," Finn says, standing up to go greet his ex-girlfriend. The former cheerleader captain looks slightly disheveled, her blonde hair done up in a messy bun, the purple sweater over her laced top and pencil skirt are wrinkled and she has what appears to be an overnight bag over her shoulder.

The former football captain embraces her tightly.

"How is she?" Quinn asks.

"We don't know yet," Finn grimaces. "We've been waiting for news."

"And who are the little girls?"

"They're Sara's cousins," Blaine explains, putting his hands over Kaylie's shoulders to keep her from running away again.

"I'm Katlyn and I'm six," the little one says happily. "Sara told me about you. You were like Kitty for a long time, mean and hard to play with, but she still likes you. You were a Cheerio too. She knows you've had a hard time and she told me you became a mommy to a baby girl. She says you believe in Jesus and you once made your hair look pink, but you changed for the better now."

Quinn Fabray is taken aback by the six-year-old's description of herself. She did not know Sara that well, the former cheerleader had had a few conversations here and there, and the shy girl always seemed to remember the blonde's birthday, giving her small presents, presents that Quinn wasn't sure if she still had or not. A surge of guilt goes through her stomach, thinking she should've valued this glee member's friendship more than she really had and she feared that Sara had been one of her victims of her regrettable bullying early on. The woman looks at the girl and then at Finn.

"The uh, girls have been told all about us by their cousin," he explains.

The blonde smiles and opens her arms to the girl, which she happily accepts. After screwing up things with Shelby and Beth, Quinn wanted another chance to make a difference in a child's life, this time for the better. Her confidence is still a little shaken, but she seems to forget her past faults after being embraced by this child.

"I think it's sweet," she says softly. She goes to greet the other members of the glee club, with Katlyn seeming to trail her the entire time. Blaine and Finn watch with interest.

"I think Katlyn has a new best friend," Finn says quietly.

"I think so too."

Eventually, the blonde sits down in exhaustion. She accepts Katlyn into her lap, thinking about the last few hours. She'd heard about the news from Finn just after she'd gotten out of class. She called Puck, who was on base for the Air Force, but he would be delayed by another day at least. She packed a bag, grabbed the quickest flight to Ohio and then a cab to the hospital, without much time to rest.

Katlyn begins to talk to her. "You're really pretty, you look like a princess."

"Thank you, Katlyn, you look like one too."

Just then the young child's stomach grumbles.

"Sounds like someone is hungry," Quinn says. "Why don't we all go down to the cafeteria for something to eat? All I had was a sandwich on the plane and it was terrible."

"You think hospital food is any better?" Artie grumbles.

"Let's go down, but some of us are going to have to stay here in case there is news," Marley points out.

"I'll stay," Ryder says, still cradling Julia. "I don't want to wake her anyways."

"So, will I," Rory agrees.

"I'll stay too," Finn says.

"We can bring you something, what do you want?" Tina asks.

Once everyone has gathered themselves together, Tina takes Madison by the hand and Quinn holds onto Katlyn, everyone leaves to find something to eat.

The trio of boys sit in elongated silence, watching doctors and nurses rush about, all of them wishing that one of them would stop and say at least something about Sara.

As Ryder continues to hold Jay, he notices something dark on her arm. Quietly and slowly as to avoid waking her, he lifts the dark blue sleeve. To his horror, he sees large thick bruises along her forearm. They look like someone's hand and fingers wrapped around her thin, tiny arm. It looks like as if he was holding onto the girl very tightly, hurting her. It amazed him that the hand didn't break her fragile little arm.

He looks for some explanation but can't draw one, it's not the typical bruise shape that a child should be getting at this age. He slowly readjusts Julia and examines her other arm, he sees more bruising, some very dark and some look like they've been healing for awhile. He then moves her hair out of the way and sees scratch marks and more blue discolouration's on her skin. His heart continues to pound in anger and hate, thinking about who would do this to an innocent child. His brief, first thought was Sara, but he knew she loved these girls with all her heart and she'd never laid a hand on anyone, ever. He then assumed this Joe, Sara's brother and if he was the one who beat her and left her bleeding on the stairs… so help him…

He's about to speak up and point it out to the others, but something interrupts him.

…

Meanwhile, up a level in the hospital, the New Directions members, old and new were purchasing things for dinner. Katlyn holds Quinn's hand the entire time, even when she's carrying a carton of milk and a small sandwich in one hand. The blonde is impressed with how well-mannered the two girls are, saying thank you when Sam offers to pay for the youngster's food and sitting up straight when eating. Katlyn sits next to Quinn the entire time while eating her sandwich quietly and drinking her chocolate milk. Madison sits with Blaine and Tina, eating a muffin and some apple slices calmly.

As they eat, Quinn watches the little girl with great admiration. It's clear that the six-year-old wanted to make a connection with her, and the former Cheerio was more than happy to oblige. She thought that all three girls were very beautiful and special in their own way. She looks at the strawberry blonde girl's hair, braided by Unique and then something makes her stop eating her own salad. She notices dark bruises on Katlyn's forearm, which appeared every time the young girl's sleeve moved when she took a bit of her sandwich. They especially stood out from the girl's plaid long sleeve shirt. They were much darker than any typical bruise for a young child. They had the consistency of a handprint.

She wants to get a closer look, deciding to get an explanation from the girl before jumping to conclusions.

"Katlyn…" she asks gently. "Are you okay? You have a couple ouches there."

The little girl turns away from her sandwich and locks eyes with Quinn for a few moments, and the former cheerleader can see fear and sadness, something that made her stomach turn.

Katlyn is about to speak when Quinn's phone buzzes in her pocket. She checks it to see it's a series of texts from Finn.

 ** _News about Sara,_**

 ** _It's bad, but there's more…_**

 ** _get up here now…_** they read.

…

As the three men wait for what felt like forever, Finn looks down at Madison's drawings as a way of distracting himself and giving him something to do. She'd left them on the table, with the pencils and coloured pens strewn about. He couldn't help but be curious. He picks it up carefully, brushing the pencils aside.

The nine-year-old had her very own sketch book, which had a cover decorated with stickers that sparkled in the fluorescent light of the hospital. He begins flipping through the pages, all were drawings of various things, anything that the fancied the little one's attention.

He saw stars, puppies, fairies, children playing, toys, even a family picture. He sees a mother, a father and the three girls, all with the associated labels. He assumes that they were the girl's parents before they lived with Sara. He sees a picture of what could be Sara and the cousins singing on stage. As he gets deeper into the book, he stops on a few pages that make him be very concerned. He sees the mother and father with angel wings, and he assumes that this was Madison's way of coping with her parents no longer being there. As he flips through more, he sees this dark looking figure always standing over the images, there are four female girls, but the dark one appears male. The three shorter ones are shown playing, while the taller one appears to be wearing a cape, trying to protect the children. They appear to be happy, until he sees the shadowy figure. There's also drawing of what looks like a beer bottle. The "superhero" character seems to have bruises on her body and scratches from multiple fights with the shadow man. But it's one page that really turns his stomach over. There's a picture of what looks like a bad man, with horns and evil looking eyes, holding what seems to be a knife over someone. The victim appears to be a girl with a ponytail, often the way Sara wore her hair and wearing her cape. He swallows bile in his throat as the girl is lying on the floor, her stomach all red. It looks as if she's been stabbed in the stomach, just like the wound she'd received barely a few hours ago.

His hands begin to shake as his mind put the pieces together. He didn't have to guess who the shadow figure and the man with horns was… He can feel tears coming to his eyes and he's about to explode with anger, when a nurse approaches them.

"Is there are Ryder Lynn and Rory Flanagan here?"

"Yes," Ryder says, standing up, Rory following close behind.

"You were both with Sara Walsh when she was brought in?"

"Yes, what happened?"

"Is she okay?"

"Did you stop the bleeding?"

"Where is she?"

"We need to see her."

"Why has it taken so long?"

The nurse blinks in confusion by the flurry of questions and it takes Finn stepping in to settle both boyfriends down.

"Let the woman speak guys," he says.

The nurse clears her throat. "Sara is still in bad condition. Critical and it's not looking great right now. She was just take out of surgery for the big laceration she had at her stomach."

"Laceration?" Rory asks in confusion.

"A large slit, it was deep and caused some internal damage."

Ryder swallows and fights back tears. "How did she…?"

"She's on a respirator for the time being and only time will tell when she wakes up how this will affect her. Additionally, she has numerous cuts and bruises that are in various stages of healing, and her leg was broken both of her wrists as well are badly sprained… She's being prepped for further exams."

The nurse goes on to list more and more injuries, each one feeling like a stab wound to both teen boys' hearts. Their girlfriend is suffering and they're standing out here, not helping her. They seem to tune out whatever else she might day, until she's almost done.

"She was also severely dehydrated and her hormone levels were completely haywire. The doctors have run some more tests and I was asked to come out to find her boyfriend."

"I'm her boyfriend," Ryder says, still holding Julia.

"No, I am," Rory insists angrily.

Finn steps between the two to keep this from escalating. He looks at the confused nurse. "Uh, both are… um… basically, at this moment, Sara was deciding between the two of them. Why is this important?"

"I need to get blood work done in order to determine who the father is…"


	7. Chapter 6: Bad and Worse

Chapter 6: Bad and Worse

At that moment, everything stopped moving except the heads of those involved. Neither of Sara's suitors spoke, at a complete loss for words. They couldn't believe what they'd just heard. Rory collapses back into his seat, staring straight ahead into the abyss. Ryder also sat down rather roughly, but he still had to be careful since he was holding Julia. Both began hyperventilating, their minds racing back to the nights they spent with her… how gentle and how soft she was. How she seemed to meld into their arms and how she seemed to cry in happiness at the intimacy.

"Oh Ryder…" and "Oh Rory…" was crooned several times as they passionately spent the night together. It was the greatest moments of either of their lives and thought that she'd finally chosen between the two.

The nurse continues to look at the two teenagers, waiting for some kind of response. Finn, who is equally as shocked, shook the astonishment off to face the medical professional.

"A-Are you sure she's pregnant?" he asks.

"100% certain. She's about a month in development now. However, it is unlikely we'll know if the embryo even survived the fall down the stairs. Also, her body is very frail and weak. The bruises and cuts we've found elsewhere on her body are in various phases of healing. It is apparent to most of us that she is enduring harsh treatment from an individual."

"Y-You mean she's…" Ryder mutters. He looks down at the sleeping child in his arms. He lifts the sleeve of her shirt to show various bruising, also seeming to heal… "They're being abused?"

"The injuries on her body are consistent with those of domestic abuse. Which is why we are finding the need to call child protective services and are notifying the police immediately."

"It's not them!" Finn says quickly, derailing the implications that the nurse was suggesting. "They are the least violent people you'll ever meet." Which was mostly true. Ryder did have a temper and he did fight Jake on several occasions when he liked Marley, but neither boy would ever lay a hand on a woman, let alone Sara, the most gentle soul he's ever known.

"Well, unless Sara Walsh plays contact sports, the injuries on her body indicate mistreatment and cruelty, mostly physical in nature."

"It's not possible…" Rory says to himself. He wipes a few tears from his eyes. He looks at the bruises on Julia's arms. They had the distinct patterns of handprints like she'd been grabbed roughly or slapped… He'd seen those patterns too, all over Sara's body. It now explained why she wore long-sleeved shirts, even in hot weather and how when they'd slept together, she looked like she was in pain more often than not.

Ryder is having a similar reflection, wishing that he'd noticed sooner. He didn't protect her like he should have. He wants to punch the wall, but with the child in his arms, it's nearly impossible. He grinds his teeth together and looks over at Rory.

"Could you please give us a few minutes?" Finn asks the nurse. "We have some things to discuss."

"Certainly, but please let me know when they are ready for blood tests…"

When the nurse walks away, Finn sits down in front of the guys. He gives them a very stern and worried look.

"Okay, you two need to start talking right now. Which one of you slept with Sara?"

"I did." Both say at the exact same time.

They each suck in a sharp breath and look at each other. Their first reaction is to glare at one another, anger beginning to boil inside them. Ryder grasps the armrest of the chair tightly and grinds his teeth some more. Rory bounces his leg up and down but continues to stare at his rival.

"What the hell? You both did?! When?!" Finn gasps.

"A month ago," Rory answers.

"A month ago…" Ryder says and he swallows again. He jumps up with Julia in his arms. Finn reacts immediately and puts his hand on his student's shoulder to prevent him from doing something stupid or hurtful to Rory. The Irish student flinches and stands up, taking a step away, not wanting to fight.

"OH GEEZ!" Finn says, also feeling frustrated. "And let me guess, neither of you used protection…"

Both boys look at their choir leader and then at each other again.

Finn takes in a very deep breath, feeling just as angry as the boys, but for other reasons. He'd been through this with Quinn, he knew what being a father could do to either of these boys. It was stressful as hell, it would also destroy Sara's life, leaving her unable to graduate or with a future… It's also so much more complicated with Rory living in Ireland, the cousins being involved and the quite possible homicidally enraged brother named Joe… He can't imagine what could happen. Plus, with the baby unlikely to survive because of Sara's beating and her body is so fragile, it would make everything worse knowing that it killed an innocent baby as well.

He takes his arm off Ryder and goes towards the wall of the waiting room. He stares at it for a few moments before pounding his fist against it several times. Not hard, but it wasn't a pleasant feeling. He feels responsible for this somehow… he needed to fix it and protect Sara and her cousins.

When he turns around he looks at Rory and Ryder. Both were still glaring at each other. They were angry, not just at each other, but Sara as well. They couldn't believe she slept with both of them, probably within a week or days of one another. How cruel could she be… If Kitty were here, she'd call the girl a slut and other insulting titles. They might want to too, but something was stopping them. The love they felt for this girl. They'd never have thought that she'd string them along like that… if at all. They knew she had to make a decision about which one she'd want to date, but using them and taking away their virginities to do it. It was so wrong. Little did either of them know, that guilt had eaten away at Sara for what she'd done. She never planned to sleep with either of them at all, but the nights, though passionate, were a bit of blur. They can't remember if alcohol was involved… they couldn't be sure now. She avoided them, trying not to face what she'd done, but both pursued her, pushing her to the almost limit. And now either of them had impregnated her, all their lives were not basically over. Although it was the boy's fault for not using protection, she shouldn't have slept with them in the first place unless she loved them.

Finn texts Quinn to bring everyone back upstairs. He wasn't sure how he was going to explain this to the group, but more than anything else, they had to keep it a secret. He knows what happened to Quinn's life while she was pregnant, the last thing Sara needed was to be ostracized at school. Not with so much else going on.

…

When Quinn and the rest of New Directions came back up, they see all three men in comatose like states. The blonde alumni's heart pounded. She was scared to hear the news. Finn's text was very vague. Maybe Sara had HIV or suffered brain damage… was she dying? Most of all, she's afraid of what to tell the cousins. Katlyn still holds onto Quinn's hand, giving her a very worried look.

"What's wrong Quinn?" she asked.

The blonde tried to smile down to comfort the girl.

"It…It'll be okay Kate… the-the doctors just came by to tells us about Sara."

"Is she gonna be okay?" Madison asks. Sam has picked up the nine-year-old to carry her. Surprisingly, she wasn't that heavy for her age.

"I don't know yet…" is the response.

"Is she dying?" Katlyn asks.

"No, she's not dying," Jake says quickly, sounding surer than he felt.

When Quinn approaches Finn, she gets right down to business.

"How bad is she?"

Finn looks into her eyes and swallows.

"She's not good," he begins. "She's still in surgery. She has a broken leg; her wrists are both banged up; she's got a black eye and a slight concussion and… she lost a lot of blood."

"How?" Blaine asks.

"She has a big slit in her stomach and that's where she lost a lot of blood."

"How did she get that?"

"Because of what Joe did," Madison blurts out.

Every head turns to the young girl in Sam's arms. Something in Finn's head clicks. He turns around and grabs Maddy's sketchbook. He flips to the page with the bloody knife. He goes over to the girl, as Sam puts her down. He gets down to her eye level and holds up the picture.

"Did…Did Joe do this to her?"

Maddy just nods before starting to cry and shrinking behind Sam's legs. Many of the members gasp. Finn feels that same fury rises up inside him again. What kind of monster does this to an innocent girl?! He wants to strangle this Joe now, wanting him to feel the pain that Sara must be in. He grinds his teeth again

"That bastard!" Finn hisses, knowing that there are children present.

"How did they…" Unique began.

"Oh my God…!"

"Who could do…"

"God almighty…"

Everyone's voices get overlapped in a flurry of confusion, but only one speaks everyone's thought.

"Someone has to call the police," Tina says loudly, saying what everyone was thinking.

"The nurse already called them. Sara also had a lot of other wounds, ones that show signs of abuse…"

Quinn gasps and looks down at Katlyn. She too looks very scared and is close to crying. The blonde kneels and pulls up the girl's sleeve, revealing the bruises. Blaine goes down next to Maddy and does the same. Everyone in the group goes very, very quiet. The tension could not be cut with a knife. The atmosphere was thick with anger, shock, sadness, and fear.

"That's not everything is it?" Quinn asks, quietly.

"She's pregnant…" Finn admits in a hushed voice.

Everyone gasps again and look over at Ryder and Rory, both have not moved since they'd sat down again.

"W-What?" Artie stammers.

"She's a month into her pregnancy… but that's not the worst part."

"What is it?" Sam says.

"We don't know who the father is…"

No one moves another muscle, still staring over at the two potential fathers. All their heads are spinning with confusion and anxiety, everyone, except one person in the group. This person was thinking quite clearly. The one person who had suppressed anger and who still didn't like Sara, despite how nice she was to them. The one you'd least expect it to come from, the one who picked up their phone and sent a single text to a friend… three simple words that could shatter Sara's innocent and friendly personae…

 _Who do you think would reveal Sara's secret? Also, check out the cover I designed for this story. Please Read and Review_


	8. Chapter 7: The Secret is Out

Chapter 7: Uncomfortable Reunion

"How much longer are we going to have to wait?" Kitty practically snarls.

The New Directions members were still in the same waiting room, except that night had fallen and exhaustion crept into each of their bodies as they sat stiffly in the uncomfortable chairs. The Lima State Hospital was still abuzz with activity, but at a much slower pace than before. Some nurses even got to go home, while the group of high schoolers and alumni waited

"SHHH!" Ryder says, cutting the Cheerio's complaint tirade off. Even after several hours, he still held onto Julia, who had only woken once since the nurse had visited the group, for a bite to eat and a sip of water, before passing out again. Although his arms were sore and tired from carrying her, Ryder kept the girl in his embrace, he found comfort and solace in protecting this young life and was just happy to hold someone close.

"You really don't stay up, late do you?" Jake moans. Marley is trying to fall asleep on his shoulder, while the blonde Cheerio has her legs up, taking three chairs.

"Can you blame me? Coach Sylvester keeps us on strict diets and exercise regimes, why wouldn't you assume she had us on sleep schedules too? I only stay awake when I absolutely have to," she wiggles her eyebrows, implying the dirtiest suggestion possible.

"Kitty if you're tired then go home," Finn says firmly, not wanting another argument to break out, especially with so much that's happening. It sucks that the New Directions members would lose focus on what was important, worrying about themselves and not their friend who is inches from being at Death's door.

"And be seen as the selfish, ditzy, careless group member, hell no. If you guys stay, I stay."

"But aren't you already all those things?" Tina says slyly.

"Can it Silent Hill!" Kitty snaps.

"Enough!" Finn says again, feeling like the parent dealing with quarrelling siblings. Quinn rubs her eyes and shifts carefully, trying not to disturb Katlyn, who was sleeping in her lap. She had even given the girl her sweater as a blanket. She, like Ryder, felt comfort in having someone to look after, it took her mind off the troubles surrounding them all and loved how Katy trusted her without question or hesitation. Madison slept on a nearby bench, with Sam guarding her against being disturbed.

"Come on Kitty let's go for a walk," Marley says, taking her friend's hand, and leaving little room for argument.

The two girls walk down the hall and out into the cold spring night. Kitty shivers and Marley offers her the sweater as she was wearing long sleeves.

"Thanks, I hate this Cheerio uniform sometimes."

"Then why not wear the winter one?" Marley asks.

"Please, that one covers my arms and then no one could see my butterfly tattoo, showing how edgy I am."

"You have a tattoo?"

"I have two, both can be seen with the Cheerio summer outfit. One you can only see when I bend over," Kitty smirks. "While you go for sweet, I go for sexy, that's why we're the dynamic duo, two halves a whole."

"Right," Marley nods. She mostly just shrugs and keeps walking forward. She couldn't believe that not too long-ago Kitty was going out of her way to ruin Marley's life, teasing, and tormenting her about her mother and her weight, going so far to alter the girl's _Grease_ costumes to make her think she was gaining weight. This inevitably made Marley develop bulimia and since the school shooting where all their lives were in danger, Kitty confessed and the two had become friends since then. The blonde was still trying to make it up to the shy one, feeling overwhelming guilt for her actions.

The two girls walk alongside the Lima hospital in the dark, enjoying the cool refreshing air.

"So… how are you taking all this?" Kitty asks suddenly.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean with the whole Ryder and Sara pregnancy thing."

Marley bit her lip. "We don't know if it's even his, it could very well be Rory's."

"What kind of person does that though? Sleeps with two guys, for all we know within hours of each other."

The brunette swallows, not really liking where this conversation was heading. She still had some unresolved feelings with Ryder and didn't want to talk about it any further.

"I never pictured her as slutty," Kitty goes on. "She's too nice for that. She's like you, plus the slutty part."

"Thanks," Marley groans.

"I just can't believe that she got herself knocked up, there's protection for a reason…"

"Can we drop it please?" the timid one says insistently.

"Right, sorry the history with you and Ryder."

The two girls walk in silence for another few minutes, gazing upwards at the stars, entranced by their beauty.

"You know, I remember Sara t-telling me about something about stars. It was a while back, I had her over for a girl's night with Unique, Sugar, and Tina. You were out of town at the time, but I found her on the roof of my house after one of Unique's m-makeovers. I went out to join her and we just started talking. She thanked me for inviting her, that it had been a long time since she'd just been able to be a teenager. I wasn't sure what she meant at the time, but s-seeing as she had to care for her cousins, it must've been nice to forget about it for a little while. Then she said that she believed that every star in the sky was a soul that had reached the heavens and that their light was them watching over us. It was so poetic and it kind of stuck with me."

"It is pretty poetic," Kitty agrees. "Do you know that she actually plays the piano?"

"What really?" Marley asks in surprise.

"Yeah, sometimes after Cheerio practice, I'd hear music in the choir room. I thought it was that weird guy, Brad, but usually, I'd see Walsh, sitting at the piano and you know what? She was actually pretty good. I always wondered why she joined glee club, I mean her singing's okay and her dancing is all right, but it's nothing special. She's no Rachel Berry or you, you know?"

"Yeah, I do. I guess she finds escape in music."

"Especially if she has to deal with a douche bag of a brother."

The girls nod to one another before heading back towards the front entrance of the hospital. Just then a _Red Car_ shuttle pulls up in front of the building and three familiar, tired faces get out. Marley and Kitty go to greet them.

"Hi guys," Rachel says, as she climbs out of the van with Kurt not too far behind. "What are you doing out here?"

"We needed some air," Marley explains. "It's been quite a few intense hours."

"Why what happened?" Kurt asks as he and Santana unload the bags. "Besides the obvious I mean."

Kitty bites her lip, not sure if she should share the information. "Uh, I think it'd be better if Finn told you."

"Who else is here?" Santana asks.

"Uh Finn, the boyfriends, everyone from Glee club and Quinn."

Rachel swallows a small lump in her throat and shakes all the past memories of the trio's former dramas from her head. They were all adults now and it wasn't about them. Plus, since she and Finn were now broken up, it shouldn't matter… So why was her stomach turning over several times even after they'd landed?

All three were a little nervous to be confronting their ex-partners, even though the breakups had happened a while ago, the feelings still lingered and made even talking to them a bit of a challenge.

The five people stand outside in awkward silence until Kitty speaks up.

"Are we all just avoiding the inevitable here? Let's go in."

The tired trio picks up their bags and follows the two high schoolers inside. They walk to where the many sleepy New Directions members are either falling asleep or already asleep in the uncomfortable chairs available. Those who are still awake turn and a select few stand up.

"Oh my God, Ryder," Rachel gasps, seeing him covered in blood.

"Are you okay Irish?" Santana asks looking at Rory's badly bruised nose.

"I could be a lot better," he responds.

Santana walks over to her Cheerio friend for a hug. The rest of the group is very quiet, either asleep or could feel the awkwardness hanging in the air.

Finn stands up, his heart pounding in his chest at the sight of Rachel. She was dressed in her usual almost preppy wardrobe but in a more casual sense of the word. She wore leggings instead of the skirt, and a blouse over a pull-over sweater. A hairband back pulled her brown bangs to keep it out of her eyes and hide the mess that was her hair. Her flats were planted firmly on the floor, as if afraid to go any further. It was just like she was back in high school, still as beautiful as ever.

Her brown eyes drink in her former boyfriend, not counting the night they spent at Will and Emma's would-be wedding. She can feel her cheeks turning red slightly and her knees feel weak from seeing him again, but she remains poised, acting like she was perfectly fine.

"Hey Rachel," he says casually.

"H-Hi Finn," she says.

He takes a few steps forward, not really sure what he wants to do, but then opens his arms, which she hesitates before going in for a friendly hug. Her heartbeat soars feeling his strong arms again, she missed his scent, his goofy smile, his gentle voice… she just missed him.

Kurt clears his throat. "W-Where's Blaine?"

"Right here," is the answer. Kurt turns to see his ex-boyfriend standing there, his heart races a little. Blaine's hair slightly more curly than usual, which always happened when his hair gel began to wear off. His dark eyes were slightly bloodshot by the lack of sleep and his bowtie was slightly crooked. He was holding the hand of a young dark-haired girl.

"How… How are you, Kurt?" Blaine asks, quietly.

"I'm fine," is the response.

Kurt's blue eyes go from his former boyfriend's face to the tired looking one. His brain starts to register that there were more than just the Glee club present.

"Who's this? Has someone had kids and not told anyone?" he says in a half-hearted attempt to be humorous.

Only Blaine really smiles, liking when Kurt did such things. His knees were weak and his grip sweating slightly as he clung to Madison's hand. He couldn't keep his eyes off him. There is a slight wave of guilt that washes over him… after cheating on Kurt and briefly dating Karoffsky, he wasn't sure what to think when he sees his ex again.

"This is Madison," the dark-haired glee member says. "She's Sara's cousin."

"Hi there, Madison," Kurt says, leaning down to her level.

"Hi," the girl says, still trying to keep her eyes open.

"She's had a rough night, we just came back from getting some water after a nightmare."

Maddy yawns again and rubs her eyes. She goes back to the bench where Sam is waiting to offer his lap as a pillow and his sweater as a blanket.

"She's precious," Rachel says, watching as the girl curls up in Sam's lap and falls asleep.

"She's usually more talkative," Finn explains.

"This is Katlyn," Quinn whispers quietly. "She's Madison's sister. Also, Sara's cousin."

"And the one in Ryder's arms is the youngest and Katy's twin, Julia." Finn finishes.

"Where are their parents?" Santana asks.

"They live with Sara, their parents are dead," Kitty explains.

"So, Sara has custody of them?" Kurt asks.

"We think so,"

"So where are Sara's parents then?" Rachel questions.

"We don't know…" Marley says. "The only other person they've mentioned is Joe…"

"Who is Joe…" Rachel trails off, remembering what Finn had told her before. "Is he…?"

Finn just nods very slowly and clenches his fists together. He walks away for a moment.

"Have you heard anything yet?" Kurt asks.

"She's in bad condition," Artie says quietly. "She was in surgery for hours."

"How did she get so injured?"

"The fight that happened caused a previous untreated wound to open up again," Ryder says, swallowing very hard.

"It wasn't a fight, it was a beating," Rory growls. "The madman beat her to a pulp…"

"There's more to it though…" Finn mutters nervously.

Santana's phone suddenly buzzes and she doesn't hear the part about Sara being abused because some much bigger news has popped up. She blinks a few times to make sure it's real before clearing her throat. Brittany had texted her something that was circulating the Internet very quickly.

"Uh… Finn?" she says.

"Yeah?"

"Is Sara pregnant?"

Those who are awake, their jaws drop open. Nobody outside the group knew.

"How…How did you know that?" Ryder hisses.

"I just got a text from Brittany, she says that it's all over the Internet and half of Lima knows now."


	9. Chapter 8: When Chaos Comes Calling

Chapter 8: When Chaos Comes Calling

"Let me see that," Finn says, taking Santana's phone from her to look at the text. Part of him wished that his friend was messing with him, but unfortunately, she's not. Posted on Facebook were the words that would likely destroy the social lives of all those involved.

 ** _Hey, you'll never believe this, Sara is pregnant! What's worse is that they don't know who the father is, Ryder or Rory._**

It looked like it had come from a text message, copied onto Facebook, and posted for all the world to see. What's even more horrifying is that it already has over 1000 views, 200 shares, and more than 2000 likes. The comments are no better either.

 _OMG Really?!_

 _Who is Sara? Is it Sara Walsh?_

 _From the Geek club?_

 _Is she that freak from Geek club?_

 _Wasn't she dating the exchange student?_

 _I thought it was the football player…_

 _What a slut!_

 _Total slut_

 _Never thought of her that way_

 _Isn't she in the hospital?_

 _Heard she was beaten up and she had blood going down the stairs like the elevator from The Shining,_

 _Hope it's the Irish weirdo, I want Ryder for myself._

 _Quinn Fabray 2.0_

 _Ever heard of protection?_

 _Did she seriously have a threesome?_

 _Is she that freak who wears hoods in class?_

 _Does she even go to this school?_

 _LOL Really?_

 _How do they not know who the father is? Its whichever boy gave her…_

Finn must fight the urge to toss Santana's phone across the room. He hands it back to her and starts towards the wall again. He reaches out and punches it, probably cracking a couple knuckles but he doesn't care anymore. Nothing else mattered. Everything just kept getting worse and worse for Sara. Whenever she gets out of the hospital, her life will pretty much be gone, she'll be in a whole new world.

"Finn!" Rachel says. "Stop it, please you're going to hurt yourself!" She grabs his arm to make him stop.

When he feels her gentle touch, he immediately halts his assault on the wall and looks at her. Her gentle brown eyes giving him the sympathy he missed so much. It takes every part of his being not to lean over and kiss her. Oh, how he's missed hearing her voice, seeing her smile, feeling her touch. He's showing her his tears of regret and agony. She squeezes his arm tightly. How much he loves her…

"Little late now," he mutters under his breath. He presses his hands against the wall and looks down at the floor.

"This isn't your fault," Rachel says firmly.

"Yes, it is! I'm the one who's supposed to be protecting everyone. I'm the leader. These kinds of things shouldn't be happening!"

"You can't always protect everyone Finn," Kurt says to his step-brother.

"I should be!" he hisses angrily. "Why didn't I notice it?! The signs?!"

"None of us saw it, Finn," Quinn says, swallowing hard. She gently transfers Katlyn to Marley's lap and stands to comfort him. She is now fighting tears of her own. "We don't know what happens behind closed doors."

"Even Ryder and I never saw them?"

"Wait, wait for what?" Rachel says in confusion. Kurt and Santana reflect the bewildered expression "Who didn't see what? What's them?"

"What are you talking about?" Santana says.

Ryder sighs heavily, he stands up, despite the weakness in his knees. He was more than angry, but also sad. He wanted to be so angry at Sara, but he couldn't do it fully. They all made bad choices, it's just hers impacted all three of their lives. Rory sighs heavily too, more sad than angry. Betrayed and upset, he thought his relationship with Sara meant something. She certainly made it seem that way, but now… after the truth has been revealed, it feels much less special. Both boys felt very confused and with the news that half the city knew of their alleged threesome, it was humiliating and made them angry.

Ryder stands next to the three alumni's, little Jay still fast asleep in his arms. He slowly rolls the girl's sleeve up. Rachel takes a step back; her hands go over her mouth in horror, tears burning her eyes. Kurt immediately begins to tear up and Santana looks like a deer in the headlights.

"It's on all three of them… and Sara's no exception," Blaine says gravely.

Rachel's head is spinning as her tears run down her face like a waterfall now. Her stomach turns so violently that she stumbles and grabs a hold of someone's arm for support. She's sick to her stomach that she hobbles until someone leads her to a trash can. She kneels on the floor and becomes violently ill. She doesn't realize it, but Finn has her arm the entire time, giving her the support she needs.

She continues to sob in agony, clinging to the filthy can as if it's a lifesaving device.

Kurt and Santana are doing no better. Santana especially; she can remember the times she insulted and basically humiliated Sara in the choir room, calling her _Silent Hill_ or _Tina's Emo Twin_ or hell even Samara from _The Ring_ movies. She taunted the girl for being so quiet and weird when she was really just hiding. She didn't want to draw attention to herself because she got so much worse at home. Even now, Santana couldn't justify one bad thing that Sara had ever said to her, hell she even gave her and Brittany couples Valentine's cards one year before she was even open about her relationship. Santana sat down and began to cry into her hands, the guilt overwhelming her completely. Quinn put her arm around her friend.

"It's okay, none of us knew," the blonde says gently.

"But I made fun of her for being weird,"

"You made fun of all of us."

"But with you guys it was justified, I kept it real but for her… she never gave me a reason to…"

Kurt is crying now too. He wished beyond all belief that he had noticed something, anything. He was too caught up in his own drama to notice when something much worse was happening to his friend. Sara was a comfort to him, she gave him a warm smile every day, texted him jokes when she knew he was having a bad day and every Christmas she always gave him some new accessory, even when he was at Dalton Academy. In fact, she always gave everyone a present at the holiday season, no matter which religion they believed in or none, like he did. She'd also sent his Dad get-well cards when he was in the hospital and if he can remember correctly, a new ball cap of his favourite baseball team. He sobs into his hands, realizing how much he took her limited friendship for granted. He knew she had a good heart, one that could possibly stop beating, within the next little while.

Blaine puts his arm around Kurt and he doesn't fight it. Both lean in together, forgetting their history and grieving for their friend. Blaine has had a little more time to see their friend, she always smiled at him when they talked, she helped him pick a solo every so often and she too would get him a special gift at Christmas time. One year it was hair gel, mostly as a joke, but the one he felt he should treasure now is a little pin she got him after they'd won Nationals for the first time. It was a K+B pin surrounded by a heart. His stomach turned realizing it was probably buried in one of his drawers at home. She must've spent a lot of money on it, money that should have been going towards the three cousins under her care.

Rachel now leans into Finn's arms, everything of the past forgotten as she sobbed into his shirt. She couldn't believe that this was happening. She felt so awful for being so self-involved through those three years in the choir room that she never saw when another glee member was in trouble. She'd talked to Sara on many occasions, the quiet girl mostly just listened as the starlet's overpowering personality took over their conversations. But she listened, she helped Rachel pick new songs to sing and she remembers the star barrettes she was given for Hanukah one year. In fact, even now in New York, she still got a holiday card from the aloof friend, which was lost in the many other greetings she got. She continued to sob in guilt.

"It's okay," Finn says comfortingly. "None of us knew…"

"It's still wrong," she whimpered.

"It is, but he won't get away with it…" he says firmly, strength in his voice.

…

"Who did it?!" Finn says angrily.

It's early morning now, the sun is up, and everyone is bleary-eyed and very confused. All the New Directions members stand outside the hospital in a line like a firing squad. Finn walks down the line, holding up his phone revealing the Facebook post. Everyone has a guilty look on their face, but are also very confused. Rachel, Santana, Ryder, Rory, and Kurt stand behind Finn, their arms folded in disappointment. They did not like the way he was confronting the group, but it had to be someone they knew.

"I can't believe that you would do this to her. And Ryder and Rory…"

Everyone looks at Finn and then down at their feet.

"She's one of our own. And I'll be damned if one of you chooses to hurt her like this!" he shouts. "Her life in school is over. Quinn can vouch for that. You have destroyed the last piece of sanctity she'll have. And from what I've learned recently, it was the last place she could really feel safe."

Standing in the crowd is the guilty party and their façade is holding, but guilt is eating at their insides.

"She's in the hospital, on life support goddamnit and one of you thinks it's okay to tell the Internet that she'd pregnant. And that they don't know who the father is. She might very well lose the baby at this point, and for all we know, she already has, but that won't stop the people from shaming her. Have you read some of the comments?"

He scrolls down through them.

"What a slut? This is the best way to lose the baby, by falling down the stairs. Did she have a threesome? Heard she was beaten up by the father. She was asking for it… I never knew a freak could be a whore…"

He pauses and glares at all of them angrily. "I know Ryder and Rory didn't do it. Quinn would never do it, not after what happened to her. The cousins don't have cell phones, and may my soul burn in hell if I did this to her. I wouldn't betray a friend like that. She may have made a bad decision about being with Ryder and Rory at the same time, but does that mean she should pay for it for the rest of her life. Did one of you hate her? From what I can tell, none of you knew her that well, but to lash out like this… I can't forgive any of you…"

He eyes every one of them.v

"Jake, was this a sick joke?"

He looks extremely offended and snaps back. "Oh right! Pick on the Puckerman immediately. Why does it seem that every time a bad thing happens, the bad boy gets the blame first? Huh?"

"Did she ever do anything to tick you off, spread a rumour, shame you for your playboy attitude?"

Jake turns red. "For your information, I liked her Finn! She never bothered me and never said anything bad about me!"

The troubled boy wants to swing at his mentor but it takes all his restraint to not.

"What about you Kitty? Have anything against her?"

"From the bad boy to the Queen B!" the blonde snaps angrily.

"You've done some things you're not proud of Kitty, but we're all willing to forgive you, but… You were hitting on Rory; did she tell you off? Make you mad and want to get even. Keep your dominance?"

It's the Cheerio's turn to get angry. She clenches her hands into fists to not slap Finn across the face. She's never felt so insulted in all her life.

"Would I do that after I called 911 for her?"

"After you tried getting into Rory's pants," Tina adds.

"SHUT UP YOU B****!" Kitty snarls and goes to attack the formerly goth classmate. "HOW DO WE KNOW YOU DIDN'T TELL ANYONE?!"

"Because I wouldn't rat a classmate you like that, that's something you would do!"

"Why you!"

Finn holds her back before anything further can happen. Tina begins shouting back at her, the girls practically at each other's throats.

"What the hell is going on here?" someone shouts over the fighting.

The group turns to see Private Noah Puckerman, Brittany S. Pierce, Mike Chang, Coach Sheldon, Carol Hudson, Burt Hummel, and Coach Sylvester stand there at the chaos that was unfolding before them.


	10. Chapter 9: About Her

Chapter 9: About Her

"Finn, what's going on here?" Coach Sheldon asks sternly, going to help his former star athlete restrain Kitty.

"Someone posted on the Internet that Sara is pregnant," he hisses angrily.

"Sara, Sara," Burt says, chewing on the name, trying to put a face to it.

"She's the girl who gave you the ball cap dad after you got out of the hospital," Kurt clarifies.

"The Yankees one?"

"Yes, that one."

"Oh yes, she's a nice kid."

"Is she the one who was in the Trouble Tones with us?" Brittany asks.

"No Brittany, that was Sugar," Santana says.

The stylish girl looks shocked. "How could you confuse me with that freak?"

"Sugar!" Finn snaps sternly.

"Sorry, Asperger's."

Carol puts her hand on her son's shoulder. She holds a small bouquet of flowers in her opposite hand. "Finn, you need to control yourself."

"I'm trying," he hisses angrily.

"I know this is hard for you but getting mad at everyone won't help."

"You're right, I'm sorry Sugar."

"Whatever," she says.

"Where's Quinn?" Puck asks.

"She's inside with Sara's cousins."

"Sara has cousins?" Mike says in disbelief. Tina does her best to avoid her ex-boyfriend's eyes.

"Yeah, three of them and they live with her and her brother Joe,"

"You mean that Joe?" Brittany asks, pointing to Jake.

"No Brit, that's my brother, and it's not the Christian homeboy over here," Puck says firmly.

"He's her bastard of an older brother," Finn hisses.

"Finn," his mother says firmly.

"Right, I'm sorry."

Puck goes to greet his little brother with a slap on the back, Rachel hugs Carol, Santana hugs her girlfriend tightly and Kurt gives his father a much-needed hug, while Sue and Sheldon do their best to rally everyone together. Mike goes over to talk to Artie and Sugar, Tina biting her lip as hard as she can. Despite how much she has moved on, she still had feelings for him on some level.

"You know, the strangest thing," Sue says quietly to Sheldon. "I don't remember ever insulting the girl Sara Walsh. She even offered to babysit Robin sometimes."

"You insult so many people it's hard to keep track of them all," Sheldon says firmly.

"You may be right," the cheerleading coach says. "Well, I brought a card from Becky Jackson, apparently she worked with the kids with disabilities group. It says _Hope You Feel Better Soon Bitch_ , which is her way of saying, friend."

"I'm sure Becky means it as nicely as she can," Sheldon says. He then turns to bring everyone inside, Finn, Rachel, Burt, Carol, and Kurt bringing up the rear.

"How bad is it?" Burt asks.

"She's on life support right now, but she's stable. She lost a lot of blood and needs help breathing," Finn says gravely.

"Have they found the son of a bitch yet?" Burt growls.

"No,"

"What about this baby that you said someone posted on Facebook?" Carol asks.

"She might lose it at this point, and the father is either Ryder or Rory,"

"That's not exactly reassuring," Kurt adds quietly.

"I don't even know what the guy looks like," Finn mutters.

"Maybe that's for the best," Rachel says gently.

"Yeah, because I'm going to beat the tar out of him,"

"You will do no such thing," his mother says sternly. "This is a job for the police."

"The police won't be able to give her justice,"

"Finn, you're not a mercenary, I doubt Sara would want you to be put in jail for defending her honour," Kurt says. "Part of me wishes I knew more about her."

The group comes back into the waiting room, Quinn sits with Katlyn still sleeping in her lap, Julia is curled up in a chair, meaning only Madison is awake, she appears to be bleary-eyed and lazily drawing in her sketchbook.

Carol and Burt give off soft smiles at the sight of the young children, being brought back to when their sons were young. Sheldon is down at Maddy's level to greet her.

"And who might you be?" he asks.

"I'm Madison, but people call me Maddy. I'm nine and in grade four."

"You're so big," Sheldon chuckles. "Do you mind if I call you Princess?"

The little girl beams happily. "My daddy used to call me that."

"And where is your daddy now?"

"In heaven," the young one says rather bluntly.

The coach is taken aback by the answer, surprised at how nonchalantly she says this as if it no longer bothers her.

"Are you Mr. Sheldon?" Maddy asks.

"I am,"

"Like the _Big Bang Theory_?"

The coach smiles at the girl. "I guess so."

"Sara told me that you made the football team good and you used to be a lady, but decided to become a man,"

"Yes, that's right,"

"But you are strong, and Sara used to be afraid of you,"

This description surprises Sheldon. Quinn cuts in to explain.

"Sara has told them all about us already."

"They seem to know us better than ourselves," Blaine adds.

"And that's Ms. Sylvester, like the cat," Maddy says, pointing at Sue. "She has a special baby named Robin and though she can be mean, she is nice underneath,"

Sue swallows a lump in her throat. The innocence of the child and the pleasant honesty is something she usually dished out to others in vanity and anger. Additionally, she was used to people not having anything nice to say about her either, but apparently, Sara told only good things to her young cousins.

"That's right, I am Coach Sylvester."

Maddy smiles at the harsh woman before going back to her drawing.

"She's precious," Carol says to Burt and the others.

"And she doesn't deserve the person caring for her," Finn mutters.

Puck goes over and hugs Quinn before sitting down next to her.

"Has there been any news?" Rachel inquires.

"Not yet but I…"

Just then, a nurse comes out to the large group. She is very surprised by the number of people have gathered here.

"May I help you?"

"We're here about Sara Walsh," Sheldon explains.

"Oh, it's nice to know she has so many friends and loved ones," the medical professional says pleasantly.

"How is she?" Ryder asks, speaking the words on everyone's minds.

"I won't lie to you, she's not in the greatest condition. We're doing our best to try and save the baby. She's on oxygen at the moment and the wound has been closed, but she's in very delicate condition. We've moved her to a private room; she's restrained because right now, a single shift in her weight could open the wound in her stomach again and cause her to lose more blood. This could possibly lead her blood pressure dropping and her to go into cardiac arrest. If this happens, it could very well kill the baby and if we try to resituate her, it could kill her as well. As of currently, we can only give her time."

Rachel grabs Finn's hand tightly and leans into him. It's instinct for her to seek support and she can feel the tears welling up. Finn swallows a large lump in his throat. Carol leans into Burt for support, Sue and Sheldon look on in horror, Madison puts down her pencils and runs to Finn to cling to his leg. Joe folds his hands in prayer, Quinn puts her hand on Katlyn's resting head, Tina begins to cry, Sam picks up Julia in his arms to hold her tightly, Santana holds Brittany's hand tightly, Kurt and Blaine stand close together and the rest of the group look on in silence. Ryder and Rory look very frightened and sad, trying to fight back the tears of distress and anxiety. At this moment, it didn't matter who the father was, they may never know if everything just keeps getting worse.

The entire waiting room is dead quiet. No one moves for fear that it might cause Sara's condition to worsen, that it may set off a chain reaction that could put both the girl and her unborn child's life at risk.

A pall of sadness hangs over all of their heads; the words of the nurse echoing in their heads. The one about Sara having so many friends and loved ones. It's true the girl had touched their lives, gave the occasional smile or greeting in the hallway or choir room, but she was still a mystery to everyone. No one knew what her favourite colour was or why she even joined Glee Club in the first place. For they knew, she had just moved to Lima or was British royalty. But it became clearer to Finn as his mind connected the dots that maybe they didn't know these things for a reason. Most were wishing beyond all belief that they knew more about her, but for him, maybe she did it to protect everyone she cared about... to protect them from him.

 _A/N: Please Review and Follow_


	11. Chapter 10: Bravery is Our Form

Chapter 10: Bravery is Our Form

"Can… Can we see her yet?" Rachel asks, breaking the silence.

The nurse frowns for a moment and looks at all the desperate eyes of Sara Walsh's concerned friends and family.

"She's still in intensive care right now so only family members right now, but her room does have a window that you could look through."

"Can you make an exception just this once?" Quinn asks. "The only family she has right now are all younger than ten years old. It might be too scary for them to go in alone."

"She's right, they should have someone that they can trust," Sam agrees.

The nurse bites her lip, she could understand where the young people were coming from, but rules were rules and they could not make any exceptions. She could understand all the friends wanted to see the patient, give her comfort and see for themselves that she was all right. Plus, such intense things are scary for young children, but none of them were related to the patient by blood.

"I'm afraid…"

"What about the father of the baby she's carrying?" Ryder cuts in very quickly. "Would he be allowed inside because technically he is family to it?"

"I… suppose, which one of you is the father of the child?"

Both Ryder and Rory stand up. The anger at not knowing whose baby Sara was carrying comes back, causing Ryder's ears to go red and for Rory to swallow a very large lump in the back of his throat. The nurse becomes very confused, in most normal medical practices, there was usually one father, the exception being same-sex male partners who mix their sperm when using a surrogate, She remembers hearing from a maternity nurse who brought the pregnancy news to the group, two boys claimed to be the girl's boyfriend. It was clear that no one at this point knew who the father was… a detail she could be willing to overlook for the sake of the children in the room.

"Both?" she asks quietly.

"For the moment," Rory mutters.

The nurse gives the two teenagers a sympathetic smile. "I suppose that will be okay... for the time being. Just come to the station at the end of the hall when you are ready."

Rory and Ryder let out sighs of relief. Finally, they were catching a break and they were going to see the girl they loved. Everyone else prepares themselves and the cousins for what is to come. Quinn gently shakes Katlyn awake from her lap, while Sam does the same thing with Julia.

"Katlyn, sweetie," Quinn said. "Time to wake up."

"Hey, Julia…" Sam says, nudging her.

The younger of the twins, Julia rubs her eyes, which were blood-shot from the crying that she had done over the past day or so. She looks fearful at first at the person who was holding her, but then Sam gives her a friendly smile and she calms down a little bit.

"You're going to go see your cousin now," he explains to her. He puts on a funny voice to make her smile, which she does and yawns to wake herself up further.

Katlyn is equally groggy upon being woken up.

"What's happening?" she asks.

"You're going to see Sara,"

"We are?"

"Not we, you, your sisters, Rory and Ryder."

"What about you?" Katlyn asks as Quinn fixes the girl's braid that Unique had created the previous day.

"We're not family, but you are. We'll be watching from the window though."

"I want you to come too," the young girl insists.

"I know, I want to too, but we have to follow the rules. We'll all be right outside the whole time."

"Promise?"

"I promise." Quinn feels a heaviness in her chest from having to be separated from this little girl. She also wanted to be there for her in case she got scared about what she might see. Part of her just wants her mother to adopt Katlyn, so they could be sisters and they could be safe from the abuse they'd been receiving. While she had an older sister, the former Cheerio longed for a younger one now. She wanted to be able to play dress-up with her, share makeup tips and do each other's hair, much like what Quinn used to do with her older sister.

Katlyn then realizes that there are more people than before.

"Who's that?" she asks point to Sue Sylvester. The coach in her bright tracksuit likely stood out for the six-year-old the most.

"That is Ms. Sylvester, she works at our high school. She's here for Sara too."

"And the other grown-ups?"

"We're here for your cousin too honey," Carol says. She and Burt lean down to greet the little girl. "I'm Carol and this is Burt, we're Finn and Kurt's mommy and daddy."

"What's your name precious?" Burt smiles. He was never the greatest with kids, but he was willing to make this one feel special and comfortable around him.

"I'm Katlyn, but my friends call me Katy."

"That's a pretty name," Carol coos happily, loving the opportunity to interact with a young child again.

Meanwhile, Sheldon tries to introduce himself to Julia.

"Hi there, pumpkin," he says smiling.

Julia leans deeper into Sam's arms and turns away in fear. She shrinks as far as she can into his arms to bury herself. A few tears appear in her eyes as she attempts to hide from the new person.

"Don't take it personally," Ryder says, coming up to them. "She's very shy. It takes a while for her to trust anyone."

"And here I thought it was the cologne I was wearing," he jokes, in good humour.

Sam then passes Julia to Ryder, whom she clings to tightly in fear, but also trust. Brittany stands nearby with Santana and the blonde waves to Julia gently, thinking that it was the better way to meet the girl than with an actual formal greeting. Jay only looks at them for a brief moment before changing her gaze.

Rory takes Katlyn's hand in his, trying to prepare himself for what is to come.

Finn keeps Maddy close to him. He can tell from the way she's holding his arm tightly is that she is afraid. She's afraid of what she might see. He can hear her sniffle a little bit, probably crying to herself.

He kneels to the girl's level and gently takes her hands into his.

"You don't have to go if you don't want to," he offers.

"I want to see Sara," Madison whimpers.

"I know you do, we all do, but for right now, only you get to go near her. You can bring her one of your drawings to be put next to her bed and you can tell her that you love her."

"That we all love her," Rachel adds, meeting the girl's gaze.

The former couple feel that spark and connection again as they help this little girl. Rachel now sees Finn as the protective father figure, his desire to comfort and protect the frightened cousins of Sara Walsh… their friend. She could see the gentleness in his voice and earnestness of each word that he said as he tries to reassure the girl. She too leans down and gently wipes the girl's tears from her face.

"We won't be far away, we promise," she promises to Maddy.

"You just have to be brave, even when it seems so scary," Finn adds.

"It's okay to be afraid, but you are a brave girl, the bravest I've ever met," Rachel admits honestly.

Carol comes up to them. "And you can take these to her too." She hands the flowers she'd been carrying to Madison.

The nine-year-old manages a small smile. "Sara loves flowers, she likes the yellow ones because they remind her of the sun and happy things."

"That was my intention," Carol smiles back. She gives the girl a small kiss on the cheek. Finn follows his mother's example by kissing her head. He wishes beyond everything that he was going with her, that everyone could see and touch Sara, give her the comfort she very much deserved. To return the kindness she'd shown them over the years.

"Are we ready?" Ryder asks. Rory stands next to him, holding Katlyn's hand. Katlyn held the card made by Becky Jackson to put next to the girl's nightstand, to make her feel that she wasn't alone.

"I think so," Rachel says. Finn gives the girl her sketchbook, which she tucks under one arm and then Rachel takes Maddy's hand to guide her to Ryder. The eldest of the trio grabs Rory's hand as Ryder had his hands full. The group of five slowly begin walking down the hall, towards the nurse's station. The elder boys and possible father of the unborn baby, whose life also hung in the balance, have a heaviness inside their chests. They were very afraid of what might come next. None of them felt mentally prepared to see their girlfriend in such a fragile state. The worst-case scenarios kept running through their heads. They felt anger in the pits of their stomachs. Not towards Sara for sleeping with both of them less than a week apart, but for the man she was forced to call a brother… the man who did this to her left her in a tragic situation and the cousins being constantly afraid. They could only hear their own heartbeats and the heavy breathing of the little girls with them…

They were afraid of what would happen next, and what they would do when they saw her again.

 **Please Review**


	12. Chapter 11: Broken Angel

Chapter 11: Broken Angel

"This way," the nurse says almost grimly as she leads them to the end of the hall, through a pair of doors into the intensive care unit. The group of five feel as though they are in a funeral march, slowly walking towards the coffin that held their loved one. The hospital seems dead quiet as they go, Jay clinging tightly to Ryder, already crying. Rory has to basically lead the older two cousins because they were so afraid of what would happen next.

The rest of Sara's friends stand at a distance near the nurses' station, waiting for someone to allow them to follow the others. This pause in the journey would prove useful in order to prepare themselves for what they might witness. They were afraid of what they were going to see through the window.

"Just in here," the nurse says, opening a door in the middle of the intensive care unit. Like it had been said before, there was a window for everyone else to look through. She pauses for a moment and looks at the group. "Are you sure the children should see this because wait you are going to see in extremely unpleasant?"

Both Ryder and Rory look at the children in their care. Rory leans down and has Katy and Maddy face him.

"Are you sure you want to see Sara?"

Madison nods without much hesitation, and while Katlyn takes a little longer, she also agrees.

"If it becomes too much for you Rory or I will take you out, okay?" Ryder says, stroking Julia's hair to give her some comfort.

"All right then," the nurse says. She pushes the door open fully and the group is facing a large blue curtain. The room is filled with the incessant sounds of beeping monitors tracking the progress of the patient, the faint hissing of an oxygen tank and struggling gasps of a person trying to inhale the gases.

"Please prepare yourself," the nurse adds. "It will be a bit of a shock."

Without another word, she pulls the curtain back.

Both Ryder and Rory gasp in horror. Both their stomachs turn violently. They may have to be taken out of the room instead of the girls. Maddy whimpers loudly and so does Katy, but then she leans into Rory's pants to hide from seeing the sight. The only other sounds coming from the group are Jay's sobs of fear and sadness.

The limp form of what should be Sara lays in a large hospital. It's hard to tell that it was her because of all the tubes, nozzles, needles, and wires strapped all over her body. She has a breathing apparatus up her nose, but also a large tube inserted into her mouth. Her face is badly bruised in several places, especially near her eyes. The large lumps are purple and have swollen badly, causing her face to become misshapen and unrecognizable. Some of her hair looks like it had to be cut off, so doctors could treat some more bruising on her head, and the older boys can see that the edges of her hair are in thin clumps due to dried blood in them. She has several stitches on her upper arms, along with an IV and other tubes to give her the proper fluids to help with her blood loss. Both her wrists are wrapped in gauze due to them being sprained and they are both strapped to the edge of the bed. The boys had forgotten that she had to be restrained in order to avoid more blood loss as well as hurting herself or the baby. She's dressed in a hospital gown and there's a large strap across her chest to keep her body still. The boys assume that the sewn-up stab wound/ gash on her stomach is beneath her robe. Her left leg is in a plaster cast that is not hung above the bed like it usually would be. Both her legs are also covered in bruises and scars, a dreadful reminder of the abuse she suffered at the hands of her own brother. There are x-rays on a projector behind the bed showing the fractures as well as lots of paperwork like containing the list of her injuries.

Ryder can't stand to see Sara like this. Tears burn in his eyes as he angrily bites his lip, trying to remain strong for everyone. Both Maddy and Katy are already in tears and are clinging to Rory for support and comfort. Rory could not hold back his tears, he doesn't try to fight them, and he lets the salty drops fall down his face, not bothering to wipe them away. J. J. continues to weep, only taking quick peeks of her cousin before hiding back in Ryder's shoulders.

They all stand motionless, unable to fully comprehend what kind of monster would do this to a person… and the longer the potential fathers of the unborn baby think about it, the more they understood why Sara hid all the abuse from them. She was trying to protect everyone she loved from the horrible mess that was her life. When Ryder finally realizes this, he lets the tears go and squeezes Julia tightly, holding her like she's the one holding him and not the other way around.

The nurse stands by, remaining stoic as part of her duties. While she'd seen a lot of horrible injuries before, this one was unique, not just because this magnitude of violence from one individual, or how complicated the unexpected pregnancy was, but of all the people and loved ones who have come to support this poor girl. She'd never seen such a large number of people in a hospital at once for a single person. She notices the flowers in the one girl's hand.

"Do you want me to put them in some water?" she offers quietly.

Madison looks at the nurse and then nods. "Sara likes bright and happy things."

…

Meanwhile, outside the rest of the group are being directed by a doctor on how to get to Sara's room in the ICU.

"Please, if you have a weak stomach, do not go to the window," he warns as he holds the door for the group.

Rachel and Finn lead the way and Rachel unconsciously puts her hand in Finn's not even realizing what she's done. The two hold onto each other, unsure about how to face this as they closer and closer to the window where they can see into Sara's room. Rachel swallows a large lump in her throat and Finn squeezes her hand tightly.

When they come to the window, Rachel immediately gasps and turns into Finn's arms horrified by what she can see. She leans into him and begins to cry, her ex-boyfriend holds onto her tightly, close to tears himself at what he sees through the window.

Kurt and Blaine aren't too far behind and almost immediately, Kurt grabs Blaine's hand at the sight of Sara in the next room. Neither can barely hold back the tears as they see this poor wounded girl laying, so close to death. The two lean into each other, any other thoughts are forgotten. Santana almost immediately breaks down in Brittany's arms, guilt overwhelming her. The fact that she was so mean to this girl because she was so quiet begins eating away at her insides. She weeps and holds her girlfriend tightly, never wanting to let go. Puck wraps his arms around Quinn tightly and gently brushes hair behind her ear as she whimpers as the sight of this poor girl. She also watches the cousins' reactions, wishing she was there to support Katy and her sisters. She can see how the distressed her new young friend is. Carol and Burt hold each other tightly, Burt keeping a hand on his son's shoulder to help him cope. Tina is in pieces, crying so hard that she has to hold onto Artie's wheelchair to remain standing. Both Mike and Artie rub her shoulders and try to keep her from collapsing. Sheldon and Sue are beginning to shed their tears, feeling helpless that they couldn't have helped this student more. Sheldon himself had been in an abusive relationship and still bore the scars of that time in his life, but he cannot imagine the years of horror that she must have endured. Sam stands with Sugar and Kitty, merely staring forward. Kitty isn't crying yet, but the guilt of trying to steal Rory and take advantage of Sara's meekness for her own personal gain eats away at her insides. Joe and Unique stand together, Unique already trying to wipe her tears so it wouldn't smudge her make-up any further, but she gives up and leans on the silent guitar player for support. At the back of the group are Jake and Marley. Jake tries to be there for his girlfriend, but she doesn't last a few moments. The minute Marley sees Sara laying in intensive care, she rushes off to the bathroom and becomes violently ill. The younger Puckerman is too numb to go after her.

As everything is quiet, Rachel pushes out of Finn's arms and stands up to hold his hand. Their history has long forgotten for the sake of Sara. Everyone wishes they could be inside, trying to do anything to help her...

Then a thought enters the lead singer's mind. She's unsure if Sara could hear her if she tried, but she feels like she has to do something... anything to let her friend know that she was there for her.

Rachel opens her mouth and quietly begins singing…

 _She walks to school with the lunch_

 _She packed_

 _Nobody knows what she's_

 _Holdin' back_

 _Wearin' the same dress_

 _She wore yesterday..._

She stops for a moment to take in a shaky breath. The rest of the group look at her, some thinking that what Miss Rachel Berry is doing is crazy, since they are in a hospital, but then Joe takes his guitar from his back and gently strokes the next chords. Finn puts his arms tightly around Rachel and then joins in the song.

 _She hides the bruises with linen_

 _And Lace_

 _The teacher wonders but she_

 _Doesn't ask_

 _It's hard to see the pain_

 _Behind the mask_

 _Bearing the burden_

 _Of a secret storm_

 _Sometimes she wishes she was_

 _Never born..._

By now, the entire glee club and other individuals have joined in, singing softly in the hallway of the hospital, trying to let Sara know that they were there for her and they were sorry they'd never asked her about the pain she was in.

 _Through the wind and the rain_

 _She stands hard as a stone_

 _In her world that she can rise above_

 _But her dreams give her wings_

 _And she flies to a place where_

 _She's loved_

 _Concrete angel_

 _Somebody cries in the middle_

 _Of the night_

 _The neighbours hear, but they turn_

 _Out the lights_

 _A fragile soul caught in the hands_

 _Of Fate_

 _When morning comes_

 _It'll be too late_

 _Through the wind and the rain_

 _She stands hard as a stone_

 _In her world that she can rise above_

 _But her dreams give her wings_

 _And she flies to a place where_

 _She's loved_

 _Concrete angel_

 _A statue stands in a shaded place_

 _An angel girl with an upturned face_

 _A name is written on a polished rock_

 _A broken heart that the world forgot_

 _Through the wind and the rain_

 _She stands hard as a stone_

 _In her world that she can rise above_

 _But her dreams give her wings_

 _And she flies to a place where_

 _She's loved_

 _Concrete angel_

 _A/N: All rights go to Martina McBride, Stephanie Bently, Rob Crosby, and the record company for the lyrics of Concrete Angel._


End file.
